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Member
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| Hey Yogis! Long time no post... looks like they kicked me off too so I'm back to newbie status ;-) Beginners mind never goes away ... hee hee.
So I'm teaching again after a bit of a hiatus. Exploring how 'I' do it (versus how everyone else has told me to do it) and am interested to see how everyone sequences their asana. In what order do you put what.
I've noticed there are many variations, in the styles and also among teachers. Interested to know what order you put things in and why. Do you jump straight into sun salutations a la Ashtanga, do you start with crunches and core warm up a la Ana Forrest, do you pop shoulderstand in the middle and before your forward bends like Baron B... what's your flow? :-) |
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| Twisti! So glad to see you back! Want me to talk to Piel the admin about restoring your wee stars or do you want to have a new beginning? As for the flow, for me it totally depends or me and the mood of the class as I perceive it--or are told. Can't tell you how many times I've chucked my plan after talking to the gang prior to class. However, probably due to my stiffness, I always begin with come centering and mild stretches. |
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| Every class I do is different depending on a lot of things, but I usually (not always) follow the following structure:
Tadasana, with attention to details.- to start out with good posture/alignment
Breathing - to start good breathing habits
Gentle stretching - to loosen things up
Sun salutations - to build heat, increase circulation
Standing (strength) poses - to build strength, open body and add heat
Standing balancing poses - balance (as well as strength, flexibility and focus)
Arm balances - balance and strength
Cobra, Locust, Bow etc - Back strengthening
Boat, leg lifts, supine eagle etc - abs strengthening
Seated forward bends - flexibility
Deep back bends - flexibility
Hip openers - flexibility
(If I do inversions, this is where I do them)
Cool down poses - to lower heart rate and relieve residual tension
pranayama - relaxation, breath control
teacher directed progressive relaxation - release tension
self directed quiet time to meditate, vegitate, etc |
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| yeah, it's different every time for me too.
i to tend to start with the same thing each time--mountain pose, nice OM. but then it changes. i don't know how or why, really. i just sort of open myself up to whatever is arising and let it flow. |
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Expert Yogi
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| kristi - Iyengar has specific sequencing for different effects, but generally we do standing poses, headstand, backbends, twists, shoulder stand, seated poses. |
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Veteran
Posts: 163
| I teach at night so I like to start with seated breath work to help everyone in the class (and me) to leave their work day at the door and get focused on our mats, our practice and our breath. Then, depending on the mood in the class, we jump into sun salutations or start with stretching and core. I almost always do back bend and inversions right before final relaxation, but we start out lots of different ways. |
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Member
Posts: 8
| Thanks guys - guess I'm looking for the 'perfect' sequence to make sure I'm doing the 'right' thing instead of tapping in and trusting my own judgement to flow as needed (as I usually do). My main yoga teacher training was very structured and my teacher, while amazing, had very high and particular standards!
No day is the same, no 'need' is the same and we just have to flow in the way that's best to achieve what we need to each day on the mat. Ebb and flow in practice as in life huh? Balance is the point - not perfection and stagnation x |
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| The perfect sequence is the one that balances the student.
It is quite elusive. But some look and some look and see. Others don't trouble to do either.
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Member
Posts: 8
| purnayoga - 2010-05-02 6:00 PM
The perfect sequence is the one that balances the student.
It is quite elusive. But some look and some look and see. Others don't trouble to do either.
Very True.
I look and see - just don't trust!
Edited by twisti 2010-05-02 3:43 AM
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| The balance between trust and skepticism is just as important as the balance between strength and flexibility or the balance between control and surrender.
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 574
| Sequence of postures not important. How you do postures are very important.The sequences of how to move in/out/through postures is important.
Something to clarify relationship of flexion and extension with observation/sensing of differences, is good for quick progress, rather than this posture than that posture. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 436
Location: Washington DC | Both are important I believe, - Sequence of postures and how you do postures, how to move in/out from one posture to another. Namaste...
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| Sequence of postures is important. For example, you do not want to do an extreme back bend immediately after an extreme forward bend or without first warming up.
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 574
| Downward dog into upward dog or cobra is extreme back bend to extreme forward bend. Many do that in the morning. Why dont they want to do that? A gazelle doesnt have to warm up and stretch its muscles to run away from a predator nor does it have to go to the gym first ether or go to a bikram yoga session (then after its muscles or warmed it tells the tiger "ok...chase me). Its only if your organization is poor that you need to. However many are poorly organized. |
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Veteran
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| >>>>>>>>A gazelle doesnt have to warm up and stretch its muscles to run away from a predator nor does it have to go to the gym first ether or go to a bikram yoga session (then after its muscles or warmed it tells the tiger "ok...chase me). Its only if your organization is poor that you need to. However many are poorly organized<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Well… indeed…
I think we also wouldn’t care about sequencing our postures or muscles movement when attacked by a tiger…
But when we practice hatha yoga, there is a need of a certain sequence of our asanas and one type of sequence may have a better effect to our well being than another. My cat is also following a certain/specific sequence of stretching whenever she gets up from a long rest, but of course not when she is attacked by an enemy dog.
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 574
| Does she warm up her muscles first? When she sees a creature, does she do her 30 minute celebrity cat yoga dvd to stretch her muscles before pouncing on the creature and realizing the creature left half an hour ago?
Im not disagreeing with you Kristi, but adding that we can be free and not only following a specific yoga routine with focusing on general instruction. If we follow just one or 2 routines (with our attention drawn to the same area each time) we are limiting ourselves to the benefits of just that routine. The brain can learn obviously from the same sequence repeated.
However it can learn more also from other routines and also other ways of doing those routines and bringing awareness to different areas within those routines. e.g. if you do ashtanga series or bikram one day, the following day do it again but bring all your attention to your ribs, then the following day bring all your attention to your facial expression and muscle tonus, or paying attention to reversability in the sequence etc. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 436
Location: Washington DC | jimg - 2010-05-04 6:39 PM
Sequence of postures is important. For example, you do not want to do an extreme back bend immediately after an extreme forward bend or without first warming up.
Yes jimg, this is very natural and we follow during our practice...
Thanks |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 574
| Isnt upward dog/downward dog an extreme back bend and forward bend that can safely be done? |
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| No actually each of those is considered rudimentary (not the best choice of terms). Adho Mukha Svanasana is a beginners inversion and the spine is ideally neutral. Urdhva Mukha is a backbend but again, one of the more introductory. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 574
| So what is extreme my friend Gordon? |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 436
Location: Washington DC | The Hala Asana, Paschimottanasana etc are extreme forward bending pose and Ustrasana (camel), Chakrasana or Urdhva Dhanurasana (Wheel) are the example of extreme backward bending poses I think. Thanks....... |
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Extreme Veteran
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Location: Washington DC | vibes - 2010-05-05 5:25 PM
Isnt upward dog/downward dog an extreme back bend and forward bend that can safely be done?
Of course vibes they can be done safely. It depends how you do, the way. We do Balasana or child pose keeping the arms stretched forward on the floor in between these 2 poses and move very smoothly from one pose to another during sun salutation. And I also agree what Mr. Gordon said: We use Adho Mukha Svanasana as a beginner's inversion and Urdhva Mukha is an introductory backbend pose. Thanks & Namaste... |
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| vibes - 2010-05-06 2:03 PM
So what is extreme my friend Gordon?
Urdhva Dhanurasana to Paschimotanasana
Dhanurasana to Janu Sirsasana
Dwi Pada Viparita Dandasana to Kurmasana.
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 574
| Thanks Gordon. Jimg has a point with moving from one extreme to the other. However if done with gentle, sensitive, careful awareness it wont cause any problems moving from any of these postures to the other. This however depends on what I mentioned earlier or in a previous post that stretching weakens muscles. So if these postures are done in a way where muscles are lengthening and coordinating together (so muscles dont stretch) rather than stretching then its totally safe even without warming up the muscles. Obviously if muscles are stretching and you move from one extreme to the other harm could occur. |
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Veteran
Posts: 113
Location: Uppsala, Sweden | I think lengthening a muscle is actually stretching it. I don't think there is any way of avoiding that. Muscles can hold/relax, contract (shorten) or extend (lengthen); that's what they do. What is important however, is the way you are stretching the muscles (actively and not beyond their limits). In yoga, as I have been taught, the stretch should not be a passive one — like passively hanging in the postures — or overreaching your flexibility; i.e. tearing the muscle.
... “As each posture is balanced by a counterposture, so each action within the posture is balanced by its counteraction until a neutral position is reached. The neutral postition is that in which the initial action has been balanced and correct alignment has been achieved. Alignment is correct when steadiness and lightness in the posture are achieved, holding it becomes effortless, and meditation is possible. This state is reached when all actions are balanced by opposing actions. The posture remains alive and active as we continually play with balancing these opposites.” (p. 20, Ashtanga Yoga: Practice & Philosophy; by Gregor Maehle, 2006) If your goal is to maximize your strength, you would probably not be doing yogasana at all, but rather weight-lifting and such exercise, and you would not stretch your muscles to gain flexibility or increased ROM (range of motion), but then you would also become more prone to injury, because of your inflexibility — despite all your strength — and that is another kind of weakness. In yoga, flexibility that is not supported by strength should not be aimed for. The underlying principle is simultaneous expansion into opposing directions. We try to build both strength and flexibility, not one or the other. (Ibid., p. 16) And you should never do extremely bendy postures without first warming up; that's just a no-brainer.
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Sequencing...
